A: Snow can fall in Texas later than you think, says Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. The Amarillo area has received about 5 inches of snow several times in the month of May.

"The latest snowfall in Texas occurred May 6-7 in 1917," McRoberts explains. "That's when over 9 inches of snow fell in the Amarillo and Panhandle areas. The two longest snow seasons have occurred in recent years. The longest was from Sept. 29 (first snow), 1984, to March 30, 1985, a 183-day period. The most recent one lasted from Nov. 2 (first snow), 2004 to May 2, 2005 (last snow), a 182-day period."

Q: What about other cities?

A: Late-season snowstorms are common in other parts of the United States, McRoberts says.

"Denver is notorious for getting very late snowfalls," he adds. "The latest snowfall for the Denver area was June 12, 1947. On April 30, 1960, the Kansas City area had a large snowfall late in the year. In Texas, an April 6, 1996 snowstorm hit the Abilene area with a whopping 9-inch snow total that really caught residents off guard. And in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the latest snowfall occurred on April 7, 1928. The old saying is true – you never know what the weather is going to do in Texas."

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"Weather Whys" is a service of Texas A&M University's Department of Atmospheric Sciences.